Mardi Gras arrest

A Sydney teenager whose forceful arrest at last year's Sydney Mardi Gras parade sparked community outrage has been awarded nearly $40,000 in costs and plans to ride atop a float at this year's celebration.

Jamie Glenn Jackson Reed, 19, is planning to sue police for damages over the incident on March 3 last year, in which he was thrown to the ground on Oxford Street and later charged with resisting and assaulting officers and using offensive language in public.

He is quiet, but will next be seen on a float at the Mardi Gras.

Video footage of the latter part of the confrontation with police last year was captured on a mobile phone and showed Constable Leon Mixios slamming Mr Jackson Reed, then 18, to the ground while he was in handcuffs.

The footage amassed more than one million hits on YouTube in less than a week, drawing accusations of police brutality and sparking an internal police inquiry and a protest on the steps of Surry Hills police centre.

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On Thursday, all charges against Mr Jackson Reed were withdrawn and magistrate Michael Barko dismissed the case against him.

He also awarded the teenager, from the southern Sydney suburb of Jannali, $39,000 in costs.

"He is quiet, but will next be seen on a float at the Mardi Gras," his lawyer, Chris Murphy, said.

During Mr Jackson Reed's assault hearing at the Downing Centre Local Court last year, the court heard that the confrontation with police began when Mr Jackson Reed allegedly pretended to kick a young woman he thought he knew.

Mr Jackson Reed had pulled back his leg, the court heard, but when police spoke to him about the aborted kick they believed he was under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Jamie Jackson Reed.

It sparked a struggle that resulted in Mr Jackson Reed being handcuffed and thrown to the ground.

In footage of the viral video played in court, a tearful Mr Jackson Reed was heard repeatedly yelling "What's his name, I didn't do anything wrong," as Constable Mixios grabbed his neck and another officer told members of the crowd to stop filming.

A notebook entry apparently handwritten by Constable Mixios after the arrest detailed how he held the bleeding teenager down with his foot.

"I have pulled him back and thrown him to ground with a leg sweep," the entry read.

"I placed my foot on his back to hold him down as he was bleeding and I didn't want to be contaminated nor did I feel safe getting down with the crowd around us."

Later, according to the entry, "POI [person of interest] began apologising and asking if we could forget about it and just leave it at that".

In the days after the incident, Mr Jackson Reed said that he had initially put the experience down to "the worst night ever" and was shocked to see himself splashed across news sites days later.

"I didn't deserve to be treated that way, that's for sure. I'm just completely in shock for the whole thing," he told Channel Seven.

He also acknowledged to Channel Nine at the time that he was caught up in the festival atmosphere and was acting "silly" on the night.

But Mr Jackson Reed said the response from the police officer was over the top.

"I could have been killed," he said.

"The way he threw me to the ground, like, if I hit my head in the wrong position ... it was just crazy. I was in handcuffs, what could I have done? Why did I have to get thrown down like that? Why couldn't he just handle it, like, maturely?"